California education officials and lawmakers are responding to sexual abuse allegations made against the iconic labor rights leader César Chávez, whose name and legacy loom large in the state.

Many schools throughout California bear the name of Chávez, who founded the National Farm Workers Association in 1962 with fellow labor rights leader Dolores Huerta. California schools also teach about Chávez and Huerta’s efforts to unionize farmworkers and fight for better pay and working conditions. Chavez died in 1993 at the age of 66.

The allegations came from an in-depth investigation by The New York Times published March 18, less than two weeks before the state holiday celebrating Chávez on March 31. The reporting revealed that Chávez had engaged in the grooming and sexual abuse of teenage girls and that he had forced Huerta to have sex with him, leading to two pregnancies.

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond said the revelations surrounding Chávez were “shocking, disturbing, and heartbreaking” and that he is grateful for the courage of survivors, including Huerta, 95, for sharing their stories.

“In this moment, we hold two important things to be true: that the struggle to advance social and economic justice for working people is bigger than one man, and that the accounts of Chávez’s abuses are deeply troubling and must not be diminished,” said Thurmond, in a March 20 letter to school districts. “We stand with survivors of violence, including and especially gender-based violence, which has no place in our society.”

Soon after the story broke, California lawmakers announced that they would be fast-tracking legislation to rename César Chávez Day. On March 26, lawmakers approved AB 2156, which renames the holiday Farmworkers Day.

That same day, the California Department of Education announced that it had updated its educational resources to reflect the renamed holiday and support LEAs to “recognize and teach about the farmworkers’ movement as a civil rights struggle that is bigger than one man,” according a letter from Thurmond.

“These resources support and encourage instruction that recognizes the important legacies of leaders such as Dolores Huerta and Larry Itliong, as well as the contributions of the hundreds of thousands of people who have fought for the rights of farmworkers for over 50 years,” Thurmond said in a March 26 letter.

Schools and educators can access web-posted educational resources that support teaching about the farmworkers’ movement on the following CDE Farmworkers Day web page: www.cde.ca.gov/ci/cr/cf/farmworkersday.asp.

The news, less than two weeks before César Chávez day, caused teachers to shift their lesson plans to focus on other leaders in the movement. Districts also had to abruptly change plans for festivities in honor of Chávez, according to published reports. Thurmond has also acknowledged that schools across the state are grappling with whether to rename facilities that were named in honor of Chávez. The CDE pointed out that the naming and renaming school facilities are governed by local policies established by LEAs.

According to a search of CDE’s California School Directory, 49 schools in California contain the name “César Chávez” or likely references to Chavez.

At its March 24 meeting, the Los Angeles Unified School District Board of Education voted unanimously to remove Chávez’s name and imagery from campuses, according to published reports.